YEREVAN, November 8. /TASS/. Clashes between the defense army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the Azerbaijani armed forces are ongoing in the strategically important city of Shushi, Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in an interview with the Armenian state TV.
"Military activity is ongoing currently on the territory of the city of Shushi and its surroundings," he said. According to the spokesman, "there is a chance that tomorrow, the battle for Shushi will end."
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians. Hostilities in the region continue despite the previously reached ceasefire agreements.
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.